PHOENIX (AP) - There are no more bills for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to consider this legislative session.
Brewer on Monday took action on the final three bills that the Arizona Legislature approved during its 4-month-long session this year. In total, Brewer signed 280 bills and vetoed 25, including Senate Bill 1062, which would have allowed businesses to discriminate against gays and others based on religious beliefs.
The Legislature adjourned in the early hours of April 24, and Brewer had until Tuesday to take action on hundreds of bills.
Brewer signed two bills and vetoed one Monday. The one she vetoed, House Bill 2327, would have allowed insurers to drop drivers who use their cars out of state for long periods of time. House Bill 2327 was passed as a last-minute amendment in the Senate and failed in the House but was brought back for reconsideration and passed. The bill would have affected college students and snowbirds who are insured in Arizona but who drive their cars out of the state for long periods.
Brewer says wording in the bill is too vague and could have unintended consequences. Arizona law prohibits insurers from canceling a policy based on location of residence.
The governor has also vetoed a bill that would require an outside review of the state’s child welfare agency and setting aside $250,000 for the cost.
Brewer will now call a special legislative session to deal with the new child welfare agency that is being created. Brewer pulled Children’s Protective Services from the Department of Economic Security in January after authorities discovered 6,600 child-abuse and neglect cases that were not investigated between late 2009 and last November. Brewer appointed Charles Flanagan, then the director of the state juvenile corrections department, to lead the new agency. But the Legislature must still create and fund the agency through legislation.
That special session is expected to begin at the end of the month.
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